The pace of openings at the park, just north of Spring Valley Road, is several months behind the ambitious goal set by developer Kirk Hermansen of Hermansen Land Development. That's not unusual in the restaurant construction game.

Some of Hermansen's plans have changed since the early days.

Previously, a different Mediterranean-themed restaurant, Verts Mediterranean Grill, was planned for the park. That company issued a statement that it "decided to not move forward with the opening of our Richardson location at this time" in order to spend more time focusing on the "quality of guest experience."

It was not immediately clear what that means.

In 2015, the Rock Wood Fired Kitchen & Spirits, a freestanding casual dining restaurant, was set to occupy roughly 7,500 square feet on two floors. William Waters, the company's chief financial officer, said: "We're a private company; we're not going to talk about it," and abruptly ended a phone call.

Hermansen said the restaurant still is scheduled to join the park but acknowledged that they will need "a little more time," possibly up to six months, to get the project back on track.

A late-June grand opening is planned for Dog Haus, a popular California-based concept known for its gourmet hot dogs, sausages and burgers. After planning began on the Richardson location in 2015, the concept added a Biergarten that will feature a "wide array of American craft beer from some of the top local, regional and national brewers," franchisee Ron Ryan said. That planning pushed back the original opening date for Dog Haus, said Ryan, who has the development rights for Dallas, Tarrant, Collin and Denton counties.

Richardson now hosts the second North Texas outpost for The Halal Guys, known as the "home of the never-ending line."

A 2,300-square-foot location opened on Lemmon Avenue in July.

Both are owned by franchisee Danny Bui and his partners Tony Nguyen and Son Phung, who also plan to open on Lower Greenville, across from Wabi House, in April or May, Bui said.

Pop into The Halal Guys' 2,100-square-foot Richardson location any given day and you might see women in hijabs sitting across from teens in jeans or suit-wearing patrons from the nearby CityLine development.

They dine on chicken, gyro or falafel platters or sandwiches served with pita, lettuce and tomato, topped with hot or white sauce.

Ashley Bruman of Sachse stopped by recently with husband David Coleman to grab a falafel platter because "we don't have a lot of options out where we live."

Bui sees the mini-U.N. client base of his brand as a perfect fit for Richardson, which is becoming increasingly diverse.

"I think Richardson is sort of a melting pot of all different types of ethnicities and really, in my opinion, is becoming quite a foodie city," said Bui, who also lives in Richardson. "You have a lot of Middle Eastern, you have Asian cuisine, Japanese. It really is establishing itself as quite a food area.

"Being adjacent to the highway and being that there is a lot of diversity in this area," opening in the restaurant park "was a no-brainer really," Bui said.

"Richardson has been a huge success both lunch and dinner," he added. "Our lunches are line out the door. The line moves very quickly -- you can be in and out in probably 10 minutes."

On Fridays and Saturdays, the restaurant stays open until 2 a.m. And though it serves no alcohol, "those also have been pretty successful," Bui said.

Given customer satisfaction levels and how busy the restaurant is, "I really couldn't ask for more," he said. "It has the right energy and the right vibe that we're looking to capture."

A few doors down at Wokk, the pace has been decidedly slower.

Yam said he's using this time to test new menu items. He plans to revamp the menu in March.

"The menu is going to evolve," he said of his plan to add traditional Chinese dishes "with a twist and Western flair. "

Right now he's "getting feedback on what people like and they don't like."

"We were trying to play it safe because I didn't know who was going to be coming in the door," he said, adding that his dad, Joe, helped craft the recipes. Now he wants to be "a little more daring."

Hermansen said he hopes to sign two more leases for space in existing buildings within the next few weeks. Another building, with two large interior and patio spaces, could begin construction this summer.

The developer said he knows that popular cuisines, including Mexican and Italian, are missing from the current lineup.

"Stay tuned," he said. "We may address that."

Yam, meanwhile, said he's not worried that it took a minute for his traffic to build.

Neither is Don Magner, the first assistant city manager for Richardson.

To make way for the restaurant development, the city of Richardson purchased the previous occupant of the site -- the 1960s-era Continental Inn -- for $2.2 million in 2012 and tore down what some said had become an eyesore. The city sold the site to Hermansen for $2.2 million but gave him a $2.2 million development grant that essentially canceled out that cost.

"We are not concerned about foot traffic at this juncture," Magner said. "Since both restaurants have been open, we have noticed a lot more lunch and dinner activity and believe things are headed in the right direction. We do look forward to continued growth in patronage but realize that comes with time."

Yam says's he's still excited.

"We were first to open," he said. "We weren't expecting too much.

"Now, two months in, sales have been good -- on target, with it growing more as time progresses.

"I feel like there's going to be a lot of stuff going on" as more restaurants open in the park, he said.